Mahou no Shinobi
by shinigami-lives
Summary: Yondaime Hokage wasn't the kind of man to leave a baby on a doorstep, even if he didn't know who the baby was. Dumbledore certainly wasn't expecting this. Yaoi ItachiHarry
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: Hmmm, Naruto and Harry Potter, would you believe that I just don't own any of them

Chapter One

To say that Albus Dumbledore was concerned would be rather like saying Hogwarts wasn't that small of a place really – the understatement of the century, or in Dumbledore's case, significantly longer than a century, because who really knew how long that old coot had been around for. However, to be fair to that old, old, old man, the Supreme Mugwump had more than enough to be worried about, especially for one of his advanced years. The Dark Lord Voldemort was alive_ again_, the ministry was _still_ full of blundering morons, he had no idea where Harry Potter was and, worst of all, he had _run out of Sherbet Lemons_!

Crawling under his desk, Dumbledore once again checked in his concealed sherbet lemon stash, desperately trying to ignore Fawkes, who was currently engaging on the closest equivalent a phoenix had to snickering under his wing. But, alas, the underground vault was still as tragically empty as the last time he had checked, ten minutes ago. Pulling himself out of the chamber through the hidden trapdoor, Dumbledore cursed as he cracked his head resoundingly on the underside of his desk.

Glowering at the still-snickering phoenix, Dumbledore returned to his chair, which creaked ominously as he sat down, adjusting his robes as he did so. He didn't know what Amelia Bones was talking about; his robes were obviously made and chosen in excellent taste. He was particularly fond of the set he was currently wearing, they were lime green with day-glow pink stars and his current favourite outfit for attending meetings of the Wizengamot. It was his personal opinion that they went splendidly with his Chudley Cannons orange boxers, which he had bought for the colour, but unfortunately there was no one else he could ask for a judgement on that matter.

Turning back to his eternal curse – paperwork, Dumbledore passed several not so happy minutes before he was again disrupted. This time it was not the tragic thought of lack of sherbet lemons that tore him from his work, but rather a stroppy looking bird of prey, which flew straight through his window, landed in the middle of his paperwork, tearing up sherbet lemon requisition forms and shitting all over the letter he had just finished writing to his tailor, asking for five more pairs of sky blue robes, preferably the ones with bright yellow smiley faces on them – the poor man most certainly was not colour-blind, despite what all those people said. They just could not appreciate real genius.

Glaring at the bird, Dumbledore found himself wincing as the bird matched him glare for glare – a bird did just not have the right to be that scary. Finally giving up the contest, he noticed a scroll tied onto the bird's leg. Taking his very life and limb into his hands, Dumbledore reached forward and carefully removed the scroll, checking it quickly but thoroughly for hexes, curses, bubotuber pus, or any of his brother's cooking experiments.

Judging himself to be safe at least from food poisoning, he gingerly peeled open the scroll, recognising at once the seal affixed to the bottom of the note, it was that of Sarutobi, the Sandaime Hokage of Konoha. The two men were not particularly close, but they had met and aided each other on certain occasions, and it was with more confidence that Dumbledore began to read to concise missive.

"_Albus._

_It is with apologies that I must begin this letter, primarily related to the unfortunate demise of a brother that I believe was, if not your possession specifically, the property of your school. Furthermore, there is significantly more delay in this letter than there should have been; I believe there to be about a five year delay on its answer._

_The only explanation for this delay is that your owl became somewhat lost in the attempt to find the Hidden Villages (there's a reason why they're called hidden) and the recipient accidentally killed your owl and then discarded the letter before leaving on a mission several months ago. It is only with his return within the last couple of days that I became aware of the presence of this letter._

_Perhaps the content of this letter would be easier for you to understand if I was a little bit more explicit about the individual in question. As you know him, his name would be Harry Potter, but after the death of his parents, he was found by the late Yondaime and raised as his son for the few years before Yondaime's tragic death._

_The content of the letter you left with the baby was very elucidating and thus we were indeed always aware of Harry's identity, however, Arashi adopted the child as his heir, believing his wife at that time unable to have children. Thus the child you may have known as Harry Potter became a respected and valued member of our community, and has for as long as he can remember gone by the name Kazama Hideaki, or as you would say it Hideaki Kazama._

_Although Hideaki-kun has always been adamant that he is in his heart a child of Konohagakure, a sentiment which I can only be proud of, he has always maintained a degree of curiosity about his birth parents and their background._

_It is for the sake of this interest and desire to honour his birth parents, that, on recently discovering the letter meant to arrive in time for his eleventh birthday, Hideaki-kun has agreed to at least discuss with you the possibility of attending your school. Although I have no great desire to be without one of my strongest shinobi, I would be willing to allow Hideaki to attend, granted that his conditions, if he has any, are met._

_As the bird is a summons creature, it should have been able to make the journey to your school in a matter of days and, should you be willing to visit, I am sure you remember the way to gain access to the Hidden Countries as a visiting dignitary. Hideaki-kun has no more missions scheduled until the end of August, having taken some time off to be with his family, so should you visit during this interlude I am sure that he will be happy to talk to you._

_I hope that you will make a visit soon, as ignoring the question of your school, I am sure that Hideaki-kun has some questions that he would nevertheless appreciate the answers to. _

_Your sincerely_

_Sarutobi_

Putting down the letter, Dumbledore sat quietly for a few moments. Then he got up and danced a jig around his office, disturbing Fawkes and waking up half the portraits in the process. Then still smiling in a seraphic manner, he sat down again at his desk, picked up his flamingo feathered quill and began to fill in the paperwork for requesting a visit to the Hidden Countries, all thoughts of sherbet lemons for the moment quite forgotten.

TBC.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two

As the suspicious Konoha guards inspected yet again both his travel documents and the letter from Sarutobi-sama, Dumbledore was forced the repress the urge to shift from foot to foot and generally fidget with nerves. Reminding himself yet again of the importance of his mission in Konoha, Albus just about managed to suppress a sigh of relief when his papers were returned to him with what he guessed to be a nod of approval.

This was why he avoided visiting the Hidden Countries except when absolutely necessary – the obsessive security to what seemed like the point of paranoia.

Just when Dumbledore thought that he was finally going to be allowed entrance into Konoha, a figure jumped down from the roof of what appeared to be a five story apartment building and approached the gates, scowl of authority set firmly in place.

"Who is this and what is his business in Konoha?"

Dumbledore sighed – somehow he knew that this new arrival was talking about him. The paranoia of the guards seemed excessive, even for the Hidden Countries and their spines seemed to snap to attention with the arrival of this tall dark-haired stranger, who, despite appearing to be only as old as the seventh years back at Hogwarts, was obviously a figure of some considerable authority.

This authority became even more obvious when the shorter guard answered, studiously avoiding the newcomer's eyes, concentrating instead on an indeterminate point somewhere above his left shoulder,

"He has documents saying that his name is one Dumbledore Albus and a letter of invitation from Hokage-sama to discuss a confidential matter, Itachi-sama."

Albus had to force himself to keep eye contact with this Itachi, who raked his eyes over him with what appeared to be contempt, but on further examination could be seen to be a thorough examination of Dumbledore's abilities, ending with the decision to proceed with caution.

There was still some degree of contempt present, but Albus could not for the life of him work out why – it certainly couldn't be his robes, which, in neon orange and candy pink, his tailor had assured him were the height of fashion. But then again, these ninjas did dress strangely, this Itachi fellow for example, he couldn't have been much over seventeen, but he was wearing what appeared to be leather trousers and a top that had more holes in it than there was material – it reminded him of a set of robes Aberforth had once worn when they were younger, he had claimed they were made of what he called fishnet – Albus had burnt them and replaced them with a sensible set of lime green ones instead.

Just when he though that he would have to produce his papers yet again, Dumbledore was filled with relief when Itachi nodded, seemingly having made up his mind about something,

"Very well, I will escort him to Hokage-sama, return to your duty."

The guards seemed to deflate with relief when Itachi turned away from them to beckon Dumbledore to follow him – at least that was what Dumbledore presumed to slight tilt of the young man's head to signify. Hoping that he was not about to have sharp weapons shoved into tender places, he followed after the young man, forced at times to trot in order to keep up.

Just as they had almost reached the tower which Dumbledore vaguely remembered as being the office of the Hokage, a loud yell almost deafened him,

"Aniki you're back."

Following this yell, two flying balls of energy, one blue and one orange, flew out of nowhere and collided with Itachi's chest. Somehow Itachi managed to turn quickly enough to catch both bundles, which revealed themselves to be two eleven year old boys, one blond and one with dark blue hair. As far as Albus could tell, it had been the blue-haired bundle who had deafened the entire street, most of whom had returned to what they had been doing previously, apparently perfectly used to the odd spectacle. The blonde was speaking now, equally loudly and twice as fast,

"You've been gone ages and ages and ages and ages."

There was a faintly accusatory note to the blonde's tone and the two boys exchanged glances as they were set down on the ground both the older boy, whose expression seemed vaguely amused. The blonde then continued to speak, blithely unaware of the glares his companion was sending him, the other boy having seemed to have now noticed Dumbledore's presence, something the blonde seemed perfectly content to ignore for the moment,

"You have to come right now!"

Itachi arched an eyebrow, as if to say 'I do, do I?' – though how he could say this with just one eyebrow was really quite remarkable. The blonde continued blithely ignoring the enigmatic eyebrow,

"Yes, you do! 'Cos you've been gone ages and niisan's been getting really worried and upset about something and you weren't here and he's locked himself in his room and won't come out and won't eat anything – I even offered him my ramen and he didn't want anything…"

The blonde's increasingly hysterical diatribe was cut off when the other boy clamped a hand firmly over his mouth, stopping him mid-flow,

"You can't say all that here, don't you see that niisan's doing something importa – oww, what was that for Naruto-baka?"

The reason for this last comment was obvious as the dark haired boy was forced to pull his hand away from his companion's mouth, blood dripping from his palm, which showed the clear indents of sharp teeth, pressed hard into flesh. Smiling smugly and absently licking the blood from his lips, Naruto spoke again,

"I had to do it, because your hand smells, Sasuke-teme."

"Does not"

"Does too."

"Does not."

"Does too times infinity. Sides, Itachi-nii shouldn't even be working right now, he's just finished a mission and he's on down-time for the next fortnight, same as niisan, I checked."

Seeming to accept this explanation, Sasuke seemed to forget the previous argument the two had been sharing and nodded, implicitly joining forces with the blonde. The two then turned matching pouts and puppy-dog eyes on Itachi, who sighed and rolled his eyes at the two of them. Then the dark haired teen turned to Dumbledore and inclined his head slightly in a facsimile of a bow,

"My apologies, Dumbledore-san, but my brothers are, for once, right. I trust that you will be able to make the rest of your journey to Hokage-sama's office without any problems."

The threat of 'or else' was as equally implied in this statement as the 'for the moment, I trust you' and Dumbledore wondered how two such different ideas could be conveyed in such a short and simple comment.

Before Albus even had the opportunity to reply to either the comment itself or the implied statements within it, the two boys had each grabbed one of the teen's hands and were determinedly dragging him away – Itachi allowed them to do so with a vaguely amused expression on his face, though every so often, he would somehow manage to trip one of them up.

TBC.

_Another short chapter. I'm sorry the chapters for this story are so short, but at least this way I stand more of a chance of being able to update regularly. Life is just totally crazy at the moment, I am writing this in a college room in Oxford, while I'm up for interview. That should just give you an idea of how insane my life is at the moment. _

_Hope you like my presentation of Itachi/Naruto/Sasuke interaction (the relationship between Itachi and Naruto/Sasuke will be purely on a sibling level, but I may do yaoi Naruto/Sasuke later on, because I love this pairing) I hope my Itachi is realistic, he's kind of based on how Itachi acted in the flashbacks to Sasuke's childhood – stoic and quiet but still very much a caring big brother – that's why I'm totally unable to but the whole Uchiha massacre story (Orochimaru was so obviously involved) or maybe I just like Itachi-kun too much._

_Harry/Hideaki should finally appear in the next chapter and the nature of the relationship between him and Itachi-chan should be revealed…_

_BTW, what did you think of my slightly feral!Naruto?_


	3. Chapter 3

AN: Chapter Three here, sorry about the delay, but illness and work are yet again trying to kill me (receiving a place at Oxford has not meant my teachers are giving me any less work)

Disclaimer: I still don't own anything, but my friend did bring me back a copy of the Deathnote movie from Hong Kong

Chapter Three

Albus Dumbledore knew that there were certain habits he possessed that some people found very amusing for reasons he had yet to identify – his manner of dress was one of these peculiarly hilarious habits that he seemed to possess. However, this was the first time in his life that he had ever been so absolutely certain that someone somewhere was laughing at him.

When he had finally reached the tower that he had been assured contained the office of the Hokage, it had taken another three quarters of an hour before he had eventually been admitted to see Sarutobi. Although some of this time was actually taken up in ascending the large number of levels until he reached the Hokage's office, most of it was wasted in yet more security measures from the implacable masked guards at the entrance to the office.

On finally entering the spacious office, Dumbledore had hoped that, after brief pleasantries, he could declare his intent and Harry, or Hideaki, as he was calling himself, would be summoned, upon which he could take the boy with him and leave the village, hopefully never to come back. Instead, Sarutobi had distinctly ignored him for five whole minutes and then had taken up ten minutes exchanging useless pleasantries. Then, instead of resolving the matter simply by summoning the boy, Sarutobi had _suggested_ that he accompany Dumbledore to 'Hideaki-kun's' apartment.

So Dumbledore found himself yet again walking through the streets of the village towards where he had been assured Harry was living. As he followed the Hokage through the labyrinthine streets, he had to hide his amazement at the barbarity of the life of the village. Everywhere he looked there were people carrying weapons and shops selling weapons and blacksmiths for making and maintaining weapons.

Furthermore, children who could not have been older than second or third years at Hogwarts raced through the streets, bedecked with weapons and wearing the headband with the strange symbol that he knew to denote the ninjas of this village. The respect towards Sarutobi and the suspicion directed towards himself was obvious, every person they saw stopped immediately to bow respectfully to the man and cast suspicious glares towards himself.

After passing what appeared to be a school where children as young as seven were being taught the location of vulnerable points on the body and how best to throw knives at a human-shaped target, they came at last to a quieter region of the village. Here, the people walked more sedately, although they stopped immediately to bow to the Hokage. More telling about the area was the frequently repeated motif of a strange white and red fan.

Eventually, Sarutobi came to a stop in front of a modestly presented building and entered through the front door, stopping to exchange pleasantries with a few people in the halls, many of whom bore the strange motif from outside on their clothing. Sarutobi came to a stop outside of an unassuming door on the fourth floor, where he promptly and precisely knocked.

Sounds of a responding scuffle just inside the apartment made Dumbledore start in concern, but Sarutobi just smiled indulgently, a smile that widened when the door was snatched open by a very familiar looking blonde haired boy, grinning like a maniac. When he saw the Hokage standing in the doorway, not immediately noticing Dumbledore, his grin widened and he muffled a laugh while he said,

"I swear, 'jiichan, whatever it was, I didn't do it."

While the Hokage beamed at the grinning boy, a scowling dark-haired boy came to join them at the door, his rumpled hair and messed clothing indicating that he had not emerged victorious from the little brawl. Instead he glowered vaguely at Dumbledore, nodded at the Hokage and whacked the blonde around the head,

"Itai…" The blonde cried, rubbing at his head and pouting, "What did you do that for, Sasu-chan?"

The scowl on the boy's face became fiercer and he answered in a condescending tone,

"Hokage-sama obviously isn't here to see you; can't you see he's brought a guest? Oh, and if you call me Sasu-chan again, Naruto-baka, I'll hide all your ramen."

Pouting even more, Naruto turned his attention onto Dumbledore, who found himself vaguely taken aback by the fierce protective intensity that manifested in the brilliant blue eyes as they focussed on him. The boy shifted into an aggressive stance and he glowered at Dumbledore,

"Oi, who are you and what do you want with niisan?"

Before Dumbledore could answer, the other boy frowned at his friend,

"Baka, how do you figure that he's here to see Hideaki-niisan?"

Naruto very obviously rolled his eyes, loosing his aggressive stance to face off with the older boy,

"It's _simple_, Sasuke-baka, if he wanted to see you or Itachi-nii, he'd have to go through Fugaku-sama, duh. Sides, I haven't caused any public mayhem in two weeks."

Sasuke flushed faintly, his cheeks rubbed pink with embarrassment. But before the disagreement could degenerate into another scuffle, another older, colder voice sounded from inside in the apartment.

"Naruto-kun, otouto, let Hokage-sama and his guest in."

Although to Dumbledore's ears there was nothing kind or gentle about the voice, both boys immediately relaxed, despite seeming to be slightly embarrassed about having been heard to be arguing. In such a vein, the boys stepped away from the door and opened it a little further, in what was obviously meant to be a gesture of invitation. Still smiling, Sarutobi entered the apartment, pausing slightly to ruffle the boys' hair, his smile widening as they both immediately rearranged their locks and scowled fiercely.

Frowning, Dumbledore followed after the other man, remembering just in time to remove his shoes before entering the apartment proper. As he followed the two boys and the Hokage to where the voice from earlier had come from, Dumbledore attempted to discretely observe the apartment itself and from these observations gain a picture of the people who lived there.

What he saw was not precisely encouraging. The apartment was large but seemingly sparsely furnished, with the only decoration being in the form of wall hangings bleakly ornamented with calligraphy Dumbledore could not read, as well as the occasional potted plant. What there was a lot of was weapons, as well as piles of the strange scrolls that seemed to be in immense proliferation in the Hidden Countries. Passing the partly open door of what appeared to be a laundry room, Dumbledore saw the most ominous sight of all: that was a small heap of blood-stained clothing, accompanied by the strong smell of disinfectant and detergent.

The living room that Dumbledore was then led into seemed to him more welcoming than the rest of the apartment, with a proliferation of comfortable looking chairs and couches arranged around a low table before windows that offered a view of what appeared to be half the village. In here there was less of the alien calligraphy and there was instead an attractive, if stark, ink drawing of a mountainous landscape. There were many more plants in this room, giving it a livelier atmosphere, but there were also many more weapons, most just left casually lying around with scrolls and whetstones and bandages.

Seated on what appeared to be the most comfortable of the low couches was the person for whom Dumbledore had made this long and tedious journey, wrapped in the strangely gentle embrace of the cold-eyed teen who had guided Dumbledore to the Hokage's tower.

Harry looked absolutely nothing like Dumbledore had thought he would and that difference was unsettling. Aside from the issue of the harsh ninja whose embrace he was wrapped in, he looked very little like either Lily or James, as Dumbledore had supposed he would favour his father. Instead, Harry's hair was long and painfully neat, pulled into a loose braid at the nape of his elegantly curved neck. He was tall and had an obvious strength in his slender body, which was garbed entirely in black clothes similar to the ones the ominous stranger was wearing. Most disturbing was his face, which was pale and finely built, with Lily's green eyes chill with the promise of the threat he could be. In short, this boy was a total stranger, looking at sixteen more of an adult than many grown wizards.

When Dumbledore had entered behind the benignly smiling Hokage, Harry had been totally wrapped up in the conversation and company of his companion. Noticing the old wizard, he looked up, all warmth draining from his eyes and then rose from the couch. Bowing deeply to the Hokage he then bowed slightly from the waist to Dumbledore himself, speaking as he did, his accent obvious,

"You must be Dumbledore-sensei; I received the letter from your school."

TBC.

_I know that's a horrible place to leave it, but it was the most sensible place for the divide if I want to actually get something posted before the end of term. Please R&R, specially with suggestions for pairings outside of the already decided Itachi/Hideaki_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

There was another moment of that terribly awkward silence that follows such introductions, and then Har…Hideaki as he called himself, nodded again to Dumbledore in what could be interpreted as an extremely abbreviated bow. With his arm still wrapped around his _companion_'s waist, the boy sat down again, gesturing with his eyes that Dumbledore and Sarutobi do the same. Somewhat uncertain as to how to proceed, Dumbledore sat down, acting more out of instinct that any cognitive process.

He wasn't sure how to proceed here, the situation was not one he understood whatsoever. He had had the perfect plan with leaving Harry with the Dursleys, where he would have been under Dumbledore's constant observation. Furthermore, although he would not wish any cruelty upon the boy, the disinclination towards magic or anything unusual which had been so obvious in Petunia and her husband would have prevented the boy from becoming too big-headed and would have made him a less unpredictable player in the game, he had planned that Hogwarts would have become the love-starved boy's first and only home and loyalty. From what he had scene of the twisted domestic scene he had stumbled into, there was no doubt that Harry's kidnappers had made a first home for him here and made him into their own weapon. Worst of all, from what he had scene and heard of these _ninjas_, their first loyalty was almost always to their village and their _kage_. These kinds of loyalties would make the boy a very unpredictable element indeed.

As he sat there ruminating on these troublesome facts, Dumbledore became aware of the force of two glares pressing against his back with the force of a strong _Stupefy_. Just as he was wondering where such anger could be directed from, Harry's companion spoke up,

"Naruto-kun, otouto, stop directing your killing intent at our…guest."

The hesitation before the last word was obvious, as was the lack of sincere chastisement; the strange teen was blatantly more amused than angry, though you could not tell it from looking at his face, which remained as blankly expressionless as before. Nevertheless, with much eye-rolling and obvious sighing, the angry force at his back lessened. Then Harry himself spoke up and Dumbledore found himself leaning slightly forward to hear more of that softly musical voice.

"Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, would you go make some tea for Hokage-sama and our…guest."

Harry's voice showed the same dubious hesitation before attributing Dumbledore the title of guest, as if questioning his welcome and this made the venerable Warlock frown in dissatisfaction. None of his plans would be effective if the boy refused to trust him. The blonde boy pouted at Harry, whining,

"But niisan…"

Harry's expression was implacable,

"That was not a suggestion Naruto-kun."

Scowling furiously, the two boys slouched out of the living room, only speeding up when Harry sent them another chastising stare. Even so, they both stopped to send another furious glare at Dumbledore before disappearing out of the room. With a sigh, Harry settled back down into his companion's embrace and Dumbledore sighed himself as he sensed the beginning of what promised to be another torturous round of small-talk that would delay his purpose.

**Breakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreak**

Under the supposed cover of the boiling of the kettle, Naruto and Sasuke argued fiercely in hushed voices. The noise of the kettle would at least cover their voices from the interloper's ears, but there was no way in hell that Itachi-nii or Hideaki-nii wouldn't hear them, they had special sensors or _something_. But the point was that they at least had the decency to pretend to find a covering noise before being rude about the stranger. Sasuke started the debate with the simplistic statement that summed up both of their emotions.

"I don't trust him."

Naruto scowled in empathy,

"He's not nice, I can sense it."

Sasuke snickered under his breath,

"_You can sense it_, what kind of trashy manga have you been reading now?"

Naruto stuck his tongue out,

"You should know, I nicked 'em from your room, Sasuke-chan?"

Sasuke snatched the largest hatchet from the counter-top and made to stab Naruto with it,

"I told you not to call me that, Naruto-baka."

Just as Naruto was about to grab his own knife and get down to the fun stuff, a voice sounded from the living room,

"Naruto-kun, Sasuke-kun, what have we told you about trying to stab each other in the kitchen? It's not hygienic if you get blood on the counter tops."

Frowning, the two boys put down their knives and turned their attention back to the tea preparations. Itachi and Sasuke liked it black, as did Hideaki, but he liked an obscene amount of sugar. Naruto on the other hand liked it with milk and enough sugar to send someone into a hypoglaecemic fit from even smelling it. Hokage-sama took it with some milk but not sugar, and no one really gave a damn what _that man_ took with his tea anyway.

When the tea preparations were complete and Naruto and Sasuke had had a scrappy little fight over stealing the best biscuits. As Sasuke nursed a bruised chin and Naruto's broken nose healed at an unfairly fast rate. Seeing them returning to the living room in this state, Hideaki and Itachi rolled their eyes, at least Hideaki did, Itachi merely quirked his left eyebrow by a fraction of a centimetre, but that was the Uchiha equivalent anyway.

Sighing, Hideaki took the tea-tray from his younger brother and raised an eyebrow at the two scowling eleven-year-olds.

"And why are the two of you still hanging around here for anyway? Shouldn't you be at the Academy?"

Naruto pouted pathetically,

"But…niisan, it's the first time both you and Itachi-nii have been home at the same time in ages…we wanted to spend time with you…"

A smile twitched at the corners of Hideaki's mouth, but he remained firm,

"And we will, Naruto-kun, when you and Sasuke-kun get back from the academy this evening."

From an objective perspective, the fake tears welling up in Naruto's eyes were more than a little impressive. Hideaki remained mostly impassive, but after a moment and seeing the genuine concern hidden behind the tears, softened and ruffled his younger brother's hair gently,

"Don't worry, otouto, I'll still be here this evening. I'll tell you what, Itachi and I will come to pick the two of you up from the Academy this evening, and if I hear from Iruka-san that you have been behaving yourselves, and working hard, we'll all go out for dinner as a family this weekend."

Naruto and Sasuke both immediately brightened; family dinners were always special occasions and normally only reserved for particularly important events or achievements. Smiling again, Hideaki reached into a pocket and drew out a fold of bills, peeling a few off and handing some to both boys.

"I haven't had time to prepare your lunches, so take this and get yourselves something to eat. Naruto, may I remind you that you may go to Ichiraku's and have some ramen, but only if you're back in time for your afternoon lessons."

There was a moment of almost awkward silence, then both boys bounded forwards, after stuffing the money into their pockets, and together wrapped Hideaki in a hug that nearly squeezed all the breath out of his eyes. Surprised, Hideaki brought his arms up to wrap around the two boys and if he hadn't been a shinobi he would have missed the fervent whisper that Naruto pressed against his chest,

"Please don't leave us, niisan. He wants to take you away and make sure you never come back. Please don't go."

Wrapping his arms tighter around the two boys, Hideaki chanced a glance at Dumbledore-sensei, sitting in one of the chairs and looking distinctly uncomfortable. Frowning at the calculating expression ill-concealed by paternal interest, Hideaki turned his attention back to the blonde who he had always known as his brother and the blue-haired boy who had become as dear as a brother to him. Reluctantly letting them go, he smiled at them,

"Everything will be fine, now the two of you ought to be off, otherwise you'll be late to the Academy."

Smiling through suspiciously watery eyes, the two boys scampered off in the direction of their room. Hideaki sat back down by Itachi and rested his head on the older shinobi's shoulder, waiting. He was not disappointed, after a couple of minutes the expected shouting began,

"Niisan, where're the shuriken I got last week, I wanted to show them to Tenten-sempai?"

That was Naruto, who seemed to have recently developed an unusual interest in sharp point things, unusual even for a shinobi.

"It's there you baka, if you actually lifted things up you might not have such a difficult time in finding things. Though it's no surprise, your side of the room always looked like a whole battalion of shinobi had been practising their wind jutsu in it."

"Urusai. Anyway, that's not my stuff; it's one of your old socks."

"It is not, I do not own socks that are orange and have green frogs on."

"You so do, I bought them for you."

"Oh yeah, I thought I had thrown those out, ages ago."

"You did, I rescued them."

"Thanks, I needed something to clean my kunai with."

"Sasuke-teme…"

The argument continued and then to two eleven-year-olds raced headlong out of the apartment in a flurry of blue and orange, pausing only to gulp down the last of their tea, grab their weapons pouches from down the side of the sofa, where they had ended up…somehow, and wave at their older brothers before continuing their flight at breakneck speed. Smiling indulgently, Hideaki turned back to Dumbledore-sensei, whose mock-paternalistic smile was becoming more and more fixed at time went on.

Leaning forward slight, he considered what Naruto had said and fixed the man with his best glare, only the presence of the Hokage reminding him to restrain his killing intent from leaking around the room. No-one upset _his_ little brother and got away with it, as several of the more prejudiced villagers had learned to their disadvantage.

"Now Dumbledore-san" he refused to be any more respectful than he absolutely had to, though he doubted the man would know the difference, "what precisely is it that you want from me?"

The question seemed to catch the older man off-guard and he had to pause to collect himself before answering,

"My dear boy…"

Hideaki cut him off before he could continue in _that _particular strain,

"No, not _your_ dear boy, or your dear anything for that matter. I want answers, not meaningless platitudes."

From the corner of his eye, he could see Itachi's eyes curling up in a smile; as the two youngest ever ANBU captains, neither of them particularly liked being treated like children. Frowning at this exchange, Dumbledore tried again, uncomfortably aware of the proximity of the Hokage, who was watching over the whole affair and smiling in a manner disturbingly akin to that of a proud papa. He would receive no help from that or any other quarter, it would seem.

"Harry," the boy in question frowned at this manner of address, but allowed the old man to continue, "I was delighted to hear that you had received your letter at last. I've come to take you home."

However, in contrast to Dumbledore's hopes, the statement fell upon disinterested ears,

"Professor, I would first like to request that you address me as Hideaki-san or Kazama-san, that is my name, as you must be aware and we are not closely enough acquainted for a more familiar mode of address. Secondly, you must have noticed that this is my home, there is no need for you to take me anywhere."

Dumbledore had to resist the urge to gasp; Itachi had to fight the desire to snicker. Nonetheless, the Headmaster continued,

"Be that as it may, it was always the wish of your parents that you attend Hogwarts."

Hideaki remained implacable,

"And it was the wish of my otousama that I do what made me happiest, although I have been assured that he would have been delighted by my becoming a shinobi of Konoha."

Dumfounded, Dumbledore grasped at the nearest thought strand he could,

"But, I was assured that you received your letter…"

"That letter was meant for an eleven-year-old, something that I am not. Furthermore, I am quite confident that it was meant for a very different type of eleven-year-old."

Loosing all composure, Dumbledore snapped,

"Hogwarts is where you belong and I have come to make certain that you return to your proper place."

There was no hint of humour in the faces of any of the other occupants of the room. When Hideaki spoke, his voice was arctic,

"You have overstepped yourself, Dumbledore-san. I have tried to make it obvious that my place is here. But if I must I will make it clear. I have family here, people whom I love, a younger brother who needs me and whom I will never abandon. Furthermore, I am a shinobi of Konoha and my duty is first and foremost to the village and Hokage-sama."

Dumbledore seemed to deflate in incredulity. Hideaki continued,

"However, as I believe that Hokage-sama expressed to you in his letter, the family I have here has not erased all of my interest in where I come from. I am willing, with Hokage-sama's permission of course, to attend your school… with certain conditions."

Sarutobi spoke then,

"It was always the wish of Yondaime-sama that if he wished it, Hideaki-kun would be permitted to learn about his past. I am more than willing to acquiesce with his request and ensure his conditions."

Bowing his head respectfully to the older man, Hideaki continued,

"In that case, it is as I have said. I will attend your school as a normal sixth year student. I will however, return to Konoha during the holidays, or during the shorter holidays Naruto and Sasuke will have the permission to come visit if they chose. My time in your world will be limited thus and Konoha will remain my home."

Itachi spoke then, startling Dumbledore, who was starting to get the impression that he was a mute,

"I will be coming with him."

Hideaki sent his partner a true smile, which, to Dumbledore's surprise, was returned whole-heartedly.

"Yes, with Hokage-sama's permission, those are our conditions."

Sandaime nodded and all three turned to Dumbledore, who hesitated,

"I cannot object to most of your conditions, but the last…"

Itachi spoke again, nodded deferentially to the Hokage before he did so,

"As the eldest child of Yondaime-sama, even if adopted, Hideaki is in constant danger from the threat of assassination. I was long ago assigned as his guard, although it was always an honorary role, as he is more than capable of taking care of himself. But that is my mission and it is my duty as a shinobi of Konoha to fulfil my mission. Where he goes, I go."

Smiling benevolently, Sarutobi spoke again,

"Well it looks like that's all settled. If Dumbledore-san will agree to arrange transportation for the two of you to the Wizarding world in time for you to buy your supplies, then we can consider this finished. Now I have to get back to my work, as I am sure that Dumbledore-san has also. I'll escort him out."

As Sandaime rose, both the young men rose also and bowed to him respectfully. Entirely outmanoeuvred, Dumbledore could only rise dumbly and follow the Hokage out of the apartment.

After the two older men had departed, Hideaki and Itachi sank back into the sofa. Turning to his lover, Itachi spoke,

"Have I mentioned how much I love you when you're being devious?"

Smiling, Hideaki allowed Itachi to press him back into the cushions and raised his face to be kissed, whispering,

"Hmm, tell me again."

TBC.

_Thus we must leave them with a little privacy!_

_This chapter is a little longer, but I'm not sure when I'm next going to have time to update. Please forgive me._

_I was overwhelmed by the response I got for the last chapter, so please continue to Review. Hugs and Kisses, shinigamilives_


	5. Chapter 5

_AN: Chapter Five here, sorry for the delay, but revision is taking over my life in a major way._

Chapter Five

It took about ten minutes on an airplane for Itachi to decide that he hated that particular mode of transport. Unfortunately, from the tense, excited look on his lover's face, Itachi guessed that Hideaki was particularly enjoying this highly claustrophobic mode of transport.

Until they had boarded the plane, Itachi hadn't minded the journey from the Hidden Countries to England all that much – they had taken one of the rare boats that travelled between the islands and Japan, not far to the West. They had then spent a week in a city called Tokyo, staying in a hotel and spending ridiculous sums of money that Hideaki justified by saying it was in order not to stand out as shinobi.

Although such camouflage was of course a very important factor, Itachi wondered if quite all their purchases had been necessary – Hideaki had turned out to be totally addicted to all the tech he could get his hands on, spending the equivalent of the last three S-rank missions' wages on gadgets that Itachi didn't even begin to try understanding. Naruto and Sasuke had also been entranced by the numerous gadgets that caught their eyes, but Naruto had mostly appeared to be concerned with the amount of ramen he could consume while in Tokyo – the quantities he had consumed had surprised no one except some of the waiters, who had been unable to comprehend the sheer mass of ramen Naruto could consume (his ambition, other than becoming Hokage of course, was to consume three times his own body weight in ramen at one sitting – something he was disturbingly close to accomplishing).

Itachi himself had found himself surprisingly intrigued by their stay in Tokyo – he had never been outside of the Hidden Countries before, though he knew some shinobi had, including, he suspected, Hideaki, given the otherwise incomprehensible fascination with the technology for sale, as well as a remarkable understanding of the appropriate values and prices for said items. The reasons behind the split from the Outside was the most closely guarded secret in all the Hidden Villages, but that didn't stop some Outsiders from coming in to hire shinobi to do their dirty work in the most untraceable way – equally so there was limited movement of shinobi and civilians in and out of the Outside, though it was all carried out with heavy subterfuge.

The Uchiha prodigy had been subject to countless lectures from his father on the inferiority of Outsiders and the Outside in general, although Itachi had noticed this sense of superiority had never stopped Fugaku or anyone else in the Clan from taking advantage of the trade in luxuries with the Outside world. Nonetheless, Itachi had found himself enjoying his stay in Tokyo far more than he had thought that he would. The hotel, though smaller than he was used to, had certainly embraced the meaning of luxury and there were many commodities there that he knew he would miss upon his return to the Hidden Countries during the summer months, and after this mission was complete.

The actual status of the mission that they were embarking upon was somewhat dubious. It was not easy for Sandaime-sama to contrive a reason to send two of the village's most prodigious ANBU out of the village for extended periods of time, without a client or even a set mission objective. The problem was compounded by the fact that the two shinobi were respectively the _de facto_ heir of the Uchiha clan and the adopted heir of Yondaime Hokage. Fortunately, the reputation of the Dark Wizard Voldemort had enabled Sarutobi to order both Hideaki and Itachi to ensure his destruction and gain as much intelligence about the fighting style of these 'wizards' as they possibly could. That second directive in particular came from the Daimyo of Fire Country, whose interest in and suspicion of the Wizarding world was a justifiable case of paranoia under a very thin disguise. But paranoia or not, it was the Daimyo's support for their mission that allowed them to leave the village for such long lengths of time, not to mention have it classed as an S-rank mission and paid accordingly.

Despite this undeniable benefit, both for their wages and their records, Itachi still despised their current location…if he had wanted to be packed into a metal sardine can with hundreds of civilians, he would have checked himself into the nearest mental asylum until the inclination passed sufficiently. Nonetheless, he found himself trapped in this flimsy, claustrophobic contraption for the entire duration of the fourteen hour flight, listening to the mindless chatter of the stewardesses and the civilians in the other cabins.

He supposed that flying 'First Class' was an advantage – at least he wasn't literally packed in like a sardine in the main cabin, listening to screaming babies and having the back of his seated kicked by a frustrated toddler. But he really would have preferred not to have had to share the First Class Cabin, which was exclusively full of balding, paunchy businessmen and their perm-bearing, dieting trophy wives, apart from the four of them.

He wouldn't have minded the businessmen so much (they were at least quieter than either the babies or the toddlers) if it weren't for the scornful attitude they extended towards them. Although Itachi accepted that by the standards of the outsiders, they were a peculiar group – two teenagers and two eleven-year olds with no adult in sight, who nonetheless had the money to afford four First Class, long-haul air tickets, this was no excuse for the behaviour of the others in the cabin, who had stared at them askance as they came in.

Perhaps it was the way Itachi found his fingers wound with Hideaki's, but the businessmen's wives in particular kept continually attempting to glance over inconspicuously (although their attempts were obvious, even to an untrained eye) and were every-so-often tutting in a disapproving manner, before descending into malicious titters. Even more obvious were their occasional attempts to draw them into conversation, starting at first with overly-sweet gestures towards Naruto and Sasuke, commenting on how 'cute' the two of them were, and how well behaved, etc. Those particular comments had stopped after Naruto had hissed menacingly at one of them and Sasuke had nearly broken another's wrist for attempting to pinch his cheeks.

After this, the ladies had descended into more disapproving gossip, before returning in a sickly cloud of perfume to speak sanctimoniously to Hideaki and Itachi, asking where there parents were, and commenting on their devotion to raising two such 'troubled' children – comments made in overly-loud voices that caused Sasuke to frown and Naruto to bare his teeth, flashing his extended canines in the women's direction. This, combined with Hideaki's affected apathy and Itachi's poorly concealed hostility, managed to scare off most of the women, and their pasty pudgy husbands, but a few would still approach, attempting to succeed where their rivals had not, in initiating these outsiders into their bigoted, privileged world.

The atmosphere, Itachi thought, was worse than the clan events he and Sasuke were forced to attend by their father – their at least the people had been too obsessed with maintaining their status and formality, and conversation was often non-existent. Furthermore, many Uchiha were shinobi or kunoichi, and everybody there knew at least not to initiate un-sought physical contact. Hideaki had seemed less perturbed by the attention, but he at least had been fussed over since his first arrival in Konoha, first as the son and _de facto_ heir of the Hokage, and then as _de facto _clan head, at least until Naruto came of age. Because of that status, Hideaki had been attending council meetings since he became a genin, and before that had been hauled off to countless functions, where the Daimyo's wife was frequently in attendance – an enormous, gaudily-dressed woman who carried a haze of perfume with her and was more than happy to pinch any cheeks that came with the reach of her sausage-like fingers.

She was a terrifying woman in her own way – a fact that her veritable menagerie of pets would willingly attest to – their frequent attempts to escape were motivated by the primal desire not to be suffocated in the heaving, sagging bosom, and provided frequent frustrating employment for newly-graduated genin, who invariably believed they would immediately begin by carrying out S-rank missions to eliminate dangerous missing-nin. A few hours spent being scratched to shreds by that woman's feral cats, or buying groceries for old ladies, who seemed certain that their money entitled them to have shinobi as their veritable slaves, or any other one of the endless supply of drudgery on which new shinobi were weaned until they became good enough to teach, and willing enough to do any mission, simply because it was their mission. Besides, their jounin teachers needed some entertainment every now and again – looking after a team of arrogant brats and only getting paid the low wages of the missions they did was no shinobi's idea of a picnic, particularly not when they could be out doing well-paid missions where at least they could kill the object of their mission.

As Itachi saw another woman approach, looking like she had lived on a diet of celery-sticks and water since she was three, he groaned quietly, leaning over slightly to speak _sotto voce_ to Hideaki, who seemed to be engrossed in a newspaper,

"How much longer until we land?"

Hideaki checked his watch and frowned slightly,

"We've only been in the air three hours, 'Tachi-koi. It's at least another ten hours."

Itachi was torn between smiling foolishly at the infrequently employed endearment and groaning at the thought of another ten hours spent in this purgatory. They hadn't even eaten yet, and the horror stories Itachi had heard in the terminal regarding airplane food had been enough to put him off that particular endeavour forever. In the end, he settled for the most preferable option, rising out of his seat to capture Hideaki's lips in a kiss, feeling them to be slightly dry with the high altitude, and parted slightly in amusement. He took the opportunity then to slide his tongue into his lover's mouth, causing the younger man to practically melt into his 'ergonomically adjusted' seat and moan lowly into the kiss, dropping his magazine and reaching up his arms to twine around Itachi's neck.

Eventually, judging Hideaki's lips to be suitably moistened and kiss-swollen, Itachi reluctantly pulled back, allowing himself to share a tender smile with Hideaki, who seemed dazed, and somewhat placid. Then, as Itachi settled himself back down, he realised the utter silence that had overtaken the cabin, and Hideaki blushed as he guessed at the show they had just put on, his cheeks flushing an attractive shade of pink that did nothing to detract from his thoroughly lascivious appearance.

The others in the cabin seemed stunned and shell-shocked, the women obviously torn between blushing and giggling uncertainly, while their portly husbands looked thoroughly disgruntled at the display of passion that exceeded what they had been party to in the last ten years of their life. In contrast, Naruto and Sasuke bore their usual expressions of embarrassment mixed with happiness at the sight, although Itachi did notice the tell-tale sign of a camera slipping away under Naruto's blaring jacket.

The two boys had discovered that there was quite a market for pictures of the two of them among their fangirls, and found it an excellent way to enhance their allowances by selling the contraband images. Itachi calculated that the two of them had made enough money to pay for several S-Rank missions, and he had to wonder just who was willing to pay that amount of money. Rumours that the pictures were blown up to full size on the walls of the Special ANBU seduction corps' office had yet to be confirmed or denied. The pictures were at least an effective way to take revenge on Jiraiya-sama when he visited the village, supposedly to check up on Naruto and Hideaki, but actually to peddle more of his trashy smut.

That particular kiss had also had the positive side-affect of thoroughly alienating the others in the cabin, and though the men kept on sending them looks equivalent to the ones a shinobi might aim at a treacherous ally, or lying client, at least one objective had been achieved – none of the women were going to try their luck again any time soon. With that thought in mind, Itachi settled back into his chair, at least partly content. However, he had only just settled himself down into the chair when the unwieldy aircraft jerked again in the air, and the captain's voice came in again over the static-filled intercom, saying that he was sorry, but they had come to _another_ patch of turbulence, and would they please return to their seats and fasten their seatbelts.

Groaning, Itachi did so and settled himself in for a long, _boring_ flight.

breakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreak

When they _finally _arrived in Heathrow airport, Itachi thought that that would be the end of their torturous travel experience. But he was disgusted to discover that he now had to embark upon totally tedious immigration procedures, followed by the even more tedious claiming of their luggage, all within the chaotic airport that was a poorly concealed version of bedlam.

Naruto and Sasuke, although they would fiercely deny it, were obviously growing tired – they had had no sleep on the plane, equally uncomfortable about being in such an enclosed space, and the novelty of the travel experience was beginning to wear heavily, particularly after the stewardess had offered them both crayons and colouring books to keep them occupied during the flight. Naruto had refused his, but Sasuke had accepted and had spent the following hour drawing a precisely anatomically correct image of someone with a startling similarity in appearance to the stewardess being disembowelled by a three-year-old wielding a sharpened crayon. Itachi had to credit the boy's ingenuity, but he hoped that Sasuke would not attempt to repeat such methods – crayons were very unwieldy weapons and so difficult to get clean afterwards.

They eventually emerged from the stifling airport, all their bags in place and with terribly boring and official stamps in their excellently forged passports. Hideaki, whose English was best, hailed a taxi and gave the driver the location that Dumbledore-sensei had directed them to. The driver, a pot-bellied man with a practically non-existent hairline and an accent that made it possible to decipher every fifth word he said (which was usually a crude one), raised his pierced eyebrows and pulled his taxi out into the solid line of traffic, turning on the radio to some appalling music sung by people who not only could not hold a tune, but made no attempt to do so, instead attempting to make 'music' by speaking in time to the discordant music and then endeavouring to make it sound interesting by making up for their tedious lyrics by interspersing them with the swear-words that seemed to make up the most of their vocabulary.

It was actually hours before they reached what Itachi supposed to be the centre of London, where they had been directed to a 'pub' upon the recommendation of Dumbledore-sensei. Instead of helping them with their bags, even for Naruto or Sasuke, who were by now visibly flagging, the driver proceeded to demand his fare, citing such factors as congestion charges and luggage fees for his exorbitant price. Even Hideaki, who usually maintained an equal temperament in the face of all crudity, scowled as he handed over the fifty pound note, before turning to help Naruto and Sasuke with their bags as the driver careened away in a cloud of noxious exhaust fumes, travelling at a far greater speed than he had been when his meter was charging.

Itachi looked up and down the street to which Dumbledore-sensei had directed them – it was a busy shopping street and crowded with English shoppers talking in strident tones and showing no inclination to help the obviously tired and lost foreigners. Hideaki pulled out the piece of parchment that Dumbledore-sensei had given them, looking up and down the street for the address which was indicated. Eventually he seemed to spot something, though Itachi could not tell what, and he led the little group of them up the street, coming to stop between a bookstore and a music shop. Itachi blinked once or twice and then he saw what he had previously missed, hidden by a glaringly obvious genjutsu. Indeed, he was ashamed not to have seen it earlier – what good was he as a shinobi, let alone a sharingan wielder if he could not spot such an obvious genjutsu, even when he tired and badly adjusted to his strange location.

Yet, as he stared more at the dilapidated 'pub' Itachi realised that there was _something_ indefinably different about the genjutsu here, something about the way the layers of the illusion worked in relation to each other, even something about the very texture of the illusion, that made it alien to him. Feeling Sasuke sagging against him, Itachi wrapped a supportive arm around his brother's back and, seeing Naruto doing the same with Naruto, herded his brother and their bags in through the doorway of 'The Leaky Cauldron'.

TBC.

Once again, sorry about the shortness of this, but this is the only way I can get this uploaded.

As for my presentation of London, I'm English myself, so this is not an overtly malicious satire, but rather more self-deprecating.


	6. Chapter 6

_AN: I'm really sorry about the amount of time it has taken me to actually write this chapter – I had about a page and a half written, when I decided that I was fundamentally unhappy with what I was writing – it was all highly laboured and stylistically self-indulgent. However, I found myself unable to rewrite it, as I had totally lost all inspiration for the story, and most of my interest in the Naruto fandom as a whole. So this story sat and moulded in my laptop until I recently began to regain something resembling an interest in Naruto, not to mention inspiration for how I wanted this story to develop._

Chapter Six

"_You failed."_

_It was not a question and Itachi did not dare raise his head. There was no answer he could give that would appease his father. All he could do was wait and be penitent while the man's anger burnt itself out. So he knelt, head bowed, eyes fixed on the tatami, while the older man paced and dripped an acidic trail of curses about his uselessness. His eight year old body ached from the fight, a long slow burn as the adrenaline faded, leaving the permanent ache from pushing his young body too far too fast. He could feel the bruises spreading already and hoped that his lecture would not last too long – he wanted nothing more than to retreat to his room for a long bath, perhaps stopping to see his brother beforehand. Fugaku wouldn't have taken Sasuke to see the finals – privileges such as that were of course not allowed for the second son, who showed none of the promise that Itachi himself apparently did. Except of course, he had now failed. The shame burnt hot behind his eyes. He forced his attention back to his father's ranting, knowing despite himself that he __**must**__ listen, his failure was enough of an insult without compounding it by being disrespectful,_

"…_years of training, and for what? For you to be beaten by some family-less upstart with no bloodline, not even born in the village, so who knows what kind of trash…"_

_Itachi closed his eyes again, resisting the urge to sigh – his father's bitterness was becoming and increasingly ugly thing to behold. Then he registered that Fugaku now wanted him to account for his 'wrongdoing' and he raised his head slightly,_

"_Don't look at me like some idiot boy. What do you have to say for yourself?"_

"_It was a fair fight. Hokage-sama said that the promotions would be decided by analysing who had displayed the greatest level of abilities and tactics appropriate to chuunin rank, not simply who won the tournament."_

_For a brief moment, Itachi wondered if his father was going to actually explode, fortunately, or perhaps unfortunately, he did not,_

"_And you think it is acceptable to attain a mediocre transition to chuunin rank?"_

_There was a hollowness in Itachi's chest – he had made it to the final battle, defeating all his opponents but the last, and this was mediocrity, when almost everyone else there was nearly twice his age?_

"_That's not right, Fugaku-san. There's no way becoming a chuunin at eight could ever be mediocre."_

_Itachi's head jerked up; they were his thoughts, his words, but that was not his voice. He twisted around to face where the voice was coming from and stared at the figure standing at the entrance to the dojo. The other boy grinned at him, his forehead protector pushing his bangs haphazardly around his face, while he was practically swamped in the green chuunin vest he wore. If Fugaku had been angry before, he was positively apoplectic now,_

"_How dare you walk in here and…?"_

"_Sandaime-sama wants to see him – you dragged him out of there before they could conclude the promotion decisions; or even before he could see a medic, by the looks of things. C'mon, we've got to go see him to get our first orders, then we'll try and fail to find another chuunin vest that's in our size."_

_Sketching a brief nod to the spluttering clan head, Hideaki grabbed Itachi's arm and dragged him up, out of the dojo, and down the street at a headlong dash. Finally, they came to a stop in the doorway of an empty shop, Hideaki laughing while Itachi stared at him in astonishment. The younger boy grinned like a madman as he shoved an identical green vest into Itachi's arms. Itachi gaped,_

"_But, I thought you said…"_

"_Geez, I picked one up for you while I was getting mine – figured we'd be about the same size. Now, let's find your brother and Naru-bozo and go for ice cream. Hokage-sama doesn't want to see us till tomorrow morning."_

_And the boy dashed off again, still laughing. Itachi stood stunned for a moment, chuunin vest heavy in his arms. Then he pulled the whole contraption on, feeling a smile twisting at his lips and took off after the other boy, aware all the while of something un-knotting happily behind his ribs._

**Breakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreakbreak**

Itachi woke alone in an unfamiliar bed. But the side of mattress next to where he lay was still warm and he could hear the low tuneless humming from the next room that told him where Hideaki was. So he reluctantly rose and went to the bathroom attached to their room, hoping that these wizards would at least have showers.

Fortunately enough they did indeed have showers, though the bathtub looked far more interesting, if something that he wanted to explore the full potential of with Hideaki's 'assistance'. He made a mental note to do so later. But while the shower lacked the opulence of the tub, it was fully serviceable and, more importantly, the water was hot enough to scald his skin. He was almost tempted to linger under the spray, but Naruto and Sasuke were in a separate room, and who knew what kind of trouble they would be racing to see who could drag the other into more of. Besides, his dream(memory) had disturbed him and he had the strong desire to immerse himself in Hideaki's company. Unfortunately, the shower was not quite big enough for this, and their explorations of the bath would have to wait for a more suitable moment. So he reluctantly turned off the faucet and began to dress.

He emerged from the bathroom a few minutes later, towelling his hair dry and wondering where he was supposed to plug in his hair-dryer, only to discover that his lover was seemingly involved in a deep and meaningful conversation with his mirror. Further observation showed that Hideaki was in fact arguing with the mirror,

"-no dear, you mustn't wear that horrible thing. It's really quite outlandish and it does horrible things to your beautiful hair."

Hideaki frowned at the mirror and donned his hitae-ate nonetheless,

"It is the symbol of my village and an honour to bear it."

The mirror seemed to shrug that off, as much as a mirror was capable of doing so,

"That's nice dear, but it simply isn't appropriate for a wizard."

Itachi felt more than a little bemused,

"You seem to be arguing with the mirror."

(and the prize for stating the bleeding obvious went to…)

Hideaki flushed and turned to him, ignoring the mirror's last complaints and firmly fastening the cloth of his hitae-ate nonetheless,

"It seems there will be a lot of facets of this world that will take more than a little getting used to."

Itachi felt himself frowning,

"If you do not truly wish to be here…"

Hideaki shook his head slightly, but his expression was uncertain, almost pained,

"It is not a question of desire – it is right for me to learn about my heritage in this world, and it was otousama's wish for me to do so, but, I feel uncertain as to how much they will attempt to suppress my true heritage as a shinobi…"

Itachi felt his frown deepening (he always felt comfortable frowning, in comparison to most other facial expressions he was expected to show, this one at least was one he had been encouraged in as a noble scion of the Uchiha house – frowning apparently was not deemed to always be a sign of weakness). Still, this last comment raised in him other concerns,

"Dumbledore-san did not seem terribly pleased with what he saw."

Hideaki sat down upon the bed, his expression dark,

"I expect that when Dumbledore left me upon that doorstep all those years ago, he did so with the intention of my receiving a very different upbringing to the one that I did. I have no doubt that my life as a shinobi of Konoha has upset many of the plans he had had for me."

Itachi felt that frowning at this moment was not a sufficient expression of his emotions, he started scowling instead,

"You think he means to use you?"

Hideaki's face twisted itself into a smirking rictus,

"I hardly think that he travels to the hidden countries to retrieve every student who goes missing. I do not doubt that he hoped to find in me a malleable tool for his purposes, whatever they may be, and that finding me to be anything but, he may be pushed into unwise actions."

This was serious,

"You think he intends to interfere with our loyalties to the village?"

His lover's face was bland, expressionless and utterly controlled, showing to anyone who knew him the Hideaki was unsettled,

"I would be highly surprised if he did not. No. I think his first move will be to attempt to control those members of this society whom I meet, and thus make me enamoured with it. Then he will suggest that I stay here during Yule, and ultimately not return to the village."

Itachi raised an eyebrow incredulously,

"Dumbledore-san obviously knows little about Shinobi."

A smirk insinuated itself, snakelike, across Hideaki's face, and when he spoke there was a note of pleasure in his voice,

"He thinks that because I am shinobi, my loyalties are easily bought and transferred from one to another. He does not understand to the way of the ninja is one of total loyalty, beyond all other concerns, to the village and the Hokage. I am almost looking forward to his attempts to manipulate _me_."

If Itachi had been a sympathetic individual, he might almost have felt sorry for the Professor. As it was, no such sympathy was aroused in him, and the moment passed on quickly. Then Hideaki groaned slightly,

"Speaking of such sorry attempts at manipulation, Dumbledore said that he would arrange for a family to guide us round while we do our shopping – something about my having some inheritance of some kind."

Another cocked eyebrow,

"I thought you were not concerned about such amateurish attempts at manipulation?"

Hideaki shook his head,

"Dumbledore's plottings are the least of my concerns. No, it's just, Naruto. Sasuke. Shopping. With other people around."

Itachi felt himself pale slightly,

"I see your point – that could definitely pose a problem."

TBC.

_I'm sorry this is so short, and that it's taken so long, but really this is all I could get written at all, without feeling like it's forced and unnatural. However, I do now have a definite plan for how the next chapter is going to go, and it will, I hope, be up sometime within the next month or so, though am making no promises._


End file.
